His family owned the biggest greenhouse in Michigan.
Theodore's dad died when he was when he was teenager.
Theodore hated high school.
Theodore worked at the Heinz pickle factories during his college summers.
Theodore Roethke was an American poet and a teacher.
He showed how he can transform his love for nature into masterpieces.
Used personal imagery
Considered one of the most respected artists of the 20th century
Theodore died from a fatal coronary occlusion in a pool
Theodore died on August 1, 1963 in Bainbeidge when he was 98
In 1955 he traveled to Italy and published 47 pomes
In 1951 he was in a depersion
Hull, Robert. Poems for Autumn. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1992. Print.
This file made possible by:
NW Arts Encyclopedia:
Nesholm Family Foundation
Bagley Wright
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)
Portrait of Theodore Roethke (detail), which hangs at Seattle's Blue Moon Tavern
The Dance
By Theodore Roethke
Is that dance slowing in the mind of man
That made him think the universe could hum?
The great wheel turns its axle when it can;
I need a place to sing, and dancing-room,
And I have made a promise to my ears
I'll sing and whistle romping with the bears.
For the are all my friends: I saw one slide
Down a steep hillside on a cake of ice, —
Or was that in a book? I think with pride:
A caged bear rarely does the same thing twice
In the same way: O watch his body sway! dash;
This animal remembering to be gay.
I tried to fling my shadow at the moon,
The while my blood leaped with a wordless song.
Though dancing needs a master, I had none
To teach my toes to listen to my tongue.
But what I learned there, dancing all alone,
Was not the joyless motion of a stone.
I take this cadence from a man named Yeats;
I take it, and I give it back again:
For other tunes and other wanton beats
Have tossed my heart and fiddled through my brain.
Yes, I was dancing-mad, and how
That came to be the bears and Yeats would know.
Theodore Roethke
Theodore was born in Saginaw, Michigan on May 25, 1908
His father was a German immagrant
His family owned the biggest greenhouse in Michigan.
Theodore's dad died when he was when he was teenager.
Theodore hated high school.
Theodore worked at the Heinz pickle factories during his college summers.
Theodore Roethke was an American poet and a teacher.
He showed how he can transform his love for nature into masterpieces.
Used personal imagery
Considered one of the most respected artists of the 20th century
Theodore died from a fatal coronary occlusion in a pool
Theodore died on August 1, 1963 in Bainbeidge when he was 98
In 1955 he traveled to Italy and published 47 pomes
In 1951 he was in a depersion
Hull, Robert. Poems for Autumn. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1992. Print.
This file made possible by:
NW Arts Encyclopedia:
Nesholm Family Foundation
Bagley Wright
The Dance
By Theodore Roethke
Is that dance slowing in the mind of man
That made him think the universe could hum?
The great wheel turns its axle when it can;
I need a place to sing, and dancing-room,
And I have made a promise to my ears
I'll sing and whistle romping with the bears.
For the are all my friends: I saw one slide
Down a steep hillside on a cake of ice, —
Or was that in a book? I think with pride:
A caged bear rarely does the same thing twice
In the same way: O watch his body sway! dash;
This animal remembering to be gay.
I tried to fling my shadow at the moon,
The while my blood leaped with a wordless song.
Though dancing needs a master, I had none
To teach my toes to listen to my tongue.
But what I learned there, dancing all alone,
Was not the joyless motion of a stone.
I take this cadence from a man named Yeats;
I take it, and I give it back again:
For other tunes and other wanton beats
Have tossed my heart and fiddled through my brain.
Yes, I was dancing-mad, and how
That came to be the bears and Yeats would know.
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